Several times a month we connect with our contributors showing where they have been, where they are now, and what’s up for the future.
Name: SM Stubbs
Title of Pieces Published in Sweet: It Can Also Mean a Type of Fish
Volume: 15
You can find SM Stubbs in Brooklyn, NY where he used to co-own a craft beer bar, called Mission Dolores – sounds intriguing! Find out more about SM on his website.
What are some major accomplishments you have had since your Sweet publication?
My debut collection of poetry – Learning to Drown (Gunpowder Press) – has JUST been published. Other than that, I have twice been a staff-scholar at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference and was the runner-up for a short-story contest with the first short story I ever submitted.
Can you tell us about a current/ongoing project that you’re excited about?
I have too many and need to narrow it down. I’m always making notes and plotting with various novel ideas I’ve been toying with, and now that the debut poetry collection is out, I have multiple ideas for the next one. All of them require an insane amount of work and it’s intimidating, but I’m excited about the possibilities and just diving in everywhere.
Who is your favorite author?
Poetry: Kim Addonizio Fiction: Olga Tokarchuk
What is your favorite poem/essay/book?
Impossible to narrow down to one book of poetry, but I’m a huge fan of Neon Vernacular by Yusef Komunyakaa and Tell Me or Mortal Trash by Kim Addonizio. For a long time my favorite novel was The Razor’s Edge by Somerset Maugham, but recently it’s been Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarchuk.
What inspires you to write?
Reading new/new-to-me authors and always old favorites, seeing how they addressed certain topics or tropes. I see a line or a sentence or even a single metaphor and my brain takes off. It always feels like an electric shock–in a good way.
What are you reading right now?
The Between by Tananarive Due and recent debut poetry collections by Phil Saintdenissanchez, Megan Pinto and Sebastian Paramo.
What is your favorite sweet?
There’s this sandwich shop in my neighborhood called Court Street Grocers that makes THE BEST olive oil orange bundt cake (pound cake?) I’ve ever eaten in my life. I’m told the owner’s mother makes everything in her own kitchen and, sadly, does not share her recipes with anyone.
Well, I’m sure it doesn’t come close, but this recipe from A Love Letter to Food looks amazing!
Thank you, SM, for taking the time to reconnect with us again! Congratulations on your new book. We look forward to seeing more of your work in the future!
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